AND THE WINNER IS…

Me!  I had a brilliant evening at the Sandford St Martin 2015 Awards last night.  OK so I didn’t win an award, but then I wasn’t up for one: I was a juror.   But I came away from Lambeth Palace feeling like a winner.  The evening had celebrated some of the best, most thought provoking, meaningful and, in some cases, uplifting media content of the past year: radio and TV documentaries, sit coms, murder mysteries, period dramas, bio-pics and everything in between.  Some of the programmes had flown under the mainstream radar – the winner of the children’s award for example (Fettle Animation’s ‘Children of the Holocaust’ BBC 2) had first been broadcast at 4 in the morning as a teaching aid for schools! – so there were loads of titles that I came home wanting to seek out, others that I wanted to watch again.

The best thing though was being in the presence of some quite outstandingly wonderful people.  Award ceremonies are always full of outstanding people, we’re there to celebrate the most talented after all.  But this room was full of people who were not only talented and not only nice but really rather wonderful:  men and women who clearly care about their work beyond personal ambition.

The winners of the Sandford Awards are can be found at http://sandfordawards.org.uk/the-awards/2015-awards/2015-award-winners/ I think you can also view the programmes there.  Definitely worth it.

So why did I feel like a winner myself?  Because:

• I was privileged to meet  Trude Silman and her sister who not only survived the Holocaust but went on to achieve so much despite all that had happened to them.
• I was thrilled to meet the BBC’s chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet and see the compassion she has for the people in the stories she has to cover.
• I was delighted to be able to thank writer Peter Bowker in person for my favourite film of last year, ‘Marvellous’ and very pleased indeed to have the chance to shake the hand of the man at the heart of the story, Neil Baldwin.
• And if you’ve seen the film you’ll understand how excited I was to see Neil get the Bishop of Leeds to sign his bible.

But the best bit?

The best bit, the bit I enjoyed most came right at the end when fellow juror Tim Herbert and the winners of the Children’s Award, Producer Kath Shackleton and Director Zane Whittingham of Fettle Animation and I were about to leave.  Standing in the hallowed hall, the home of the head of the Church of England, with its oak paneling and  Tudor fireplace, surrounded by oil paintings of all the Archbishops that have gone before,  surrounded by history and the host of unseen witnesses, the cry went up, “Anyone coming for a beer?”

Like I said, I was in the presence of some quite outstandingly wonderful people.